MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. There are currently no prerequisites for the resumption of talks in Qatar on the Gaza Strip conflict settlement, Israeli Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi told TASS on Saturday.
"Everything remains the same at the moment and there is no news," he said. "I know that various parties try resorting to certain attempts."
"However, these attempts had no success as of yet. I see nothing at his stage," the Israeli diplomat added.
Speaking about a possible resumption of talks in Qatar before the 2023 yearend, the diplomat said, "You do know that we have never set any specific dates."
"We proved previously that when there were some specific proposals, we followed them," he said. "There are no such particular proposals as of yet," Zvi said. "Nothing to consider at the moment since there are no proposals. It means that combat actions will go on."
The Israeli ambassador added that the country’s economy would continue to be operational for the time to come.
"Yes, it [the economy of Israel] is ready for the lingering combat actions," he said. "The fact is a fact as the war continues. We will continue fighting."
"The factor of economy will have no impact at all regarding our determination to carry on with combat actions," Zvi said.
On November 22, Hamas announced an agreement with Israel, which was brokered by Egypt and Qatar, on a four-day humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip, which took effect on November 24. The deal stipulated the release of Israeli women and children being held hostage in Gaza in exchange for the release of Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons.
The sides extended the ceasefire several times but on the morning of December 1 the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that Hamas had violated the truce in Gaza and opened fire on Israeli territory, thus prompting the IDF to resume combat operations in the Gaza Strip.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly.
Hamas described its attack as a response to the Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.